There are four named galleries in the library. Art is also displayed in several other areas on first and second floor.

The Winnifred M. Cone Gallery

Named in honor of the wife of the artist, this gallery contains a comprehensive collection of paintings and drawings by Marvin Cone, class of 1914.

Composed of more than 60 pieces at this time, the Cone holdings are particularly noteworthy in that the majority of the pieces were personally selected by Marvin Cone himself, as representative of major stylistic watersheds in his career. As such, they possess particular significance for both the scholar and the layperson. Also noteworthy are the earliest and last pieces in the collection. Lamellibranchiata (Unio) (Clam) was drawn in 1912 while Marvin was a student at Coe. Remembered Light, both the study in graphite and the final oil were some of the last pieces executed by the artist.

Two works by other artists hang in the gallery. Malnutrition, an early portrait of Marvin, by his life long friend Grant Wood, has been graciously lent by the Cone Family Trust. Reflections, by George Henry, is a photograph of both Marvin and Winnifred in the artist's studio of their Cedar Rapids home.

Winnifred M. Cone Gallery, East

Malnutrition (Grant Wood)

1919

oil on panel

Strange to Me Now

1948

oil on canvas

Roadside Farm

1941

oil on board

Shapes on Shapes No.4

1963

oil on canvas

Three Doorways

1951

oil on canvas

Intervals No. 2

1958

oil on canvas

Shadowed Door No.2

1961

oil on canvas

Thunderhead No.3

@1941

oil on canvas

Uncle Ben

1942

oil on canvas

Dark Design

1949

oil on canvas

The Tapestry of the Jilted Lover

1931

oil on canvas

Plant with Nude

@1930

oil on canvas

Lilies for a God

1945

oil on board

The Old Red Barn

@1942

oil on masonite

Roof Pattern

1929

oil on board

Taxco

1939

oil on canvas board

Melodrama

1937

oil on canvas

Maestro

@1940

oil on canvas

Mask

1935

oil on masonite

Washing's Out

@1946

oil on board

Old Things (chair from the painting Old Things on display)

@1930

oil on canvas

Pink Silo

1961

oil on masonite

Brown Pears

@1963

oil on masonite

Blue Pears

@1963

oil on masonite

Two Pears

1954

oil on masonite

Three Pears

1961

oil on masonite

House and Wall

1926

oil on board

Hot Day

1938-39

oil on masonite

Lamellibranchiata (Unio) (Clam)

1912

ink drawing

Studio Demonstration

1935

oil on board

Untitled (rural landscape)

@1930

oil on canvas

Grove

1952

oil on canvas

Clouds

n.d.

oil on canvas

The East gallery includes a display case containing subjects from Marvin Cone's paintings, a bust made by Marvin Cone, and the insignia designed by Marvin Cone for the 34th division of the United States Army, along with some programs from Cone's art openings.

The Knapp Study Room contains a set of fifteen photographs by Iowa photographer John W. Barry of scenes from the summer art colony conducted by Grant Wood and Marvin Cone during the summers of 1932-33 in Stone City.

The Perrine Gallery (second floor)

Twelve of the fourteen works of Grant Wood owned by the College are on display in this gallery.

The six large farm murals on the east and west walls and the smaller mural, Fruit Basket, constitute the heart of this important regionalist portion of Coe's collection. Collectively they are known as The Fruits of Iowa and were commissioned by Eugene C. Eppley for the Coffee Shop of his Cedar Rapids Montrose Hotel. When the hotel changed ownership in 1956, the murals were lent to the College where they were prominently displayed in the Library. They have remained here ever since. In 1976, the Eppley Foundation graciously donated the murals to the College.

Fruit Basket

1932

oil on canvas: mural

Farmer with Pigs and Corn

1932

oil on canvas: mural

Iowa Farm Landscape

1932

oil on canvas: mural

Farmer's Wife with Chickens

1932

oil on canvas: mural

Farmer's Daughter with Vegetables

1932

oil on canvas: mural

Boy Milking Cow

1932

oil on canvas: mural

Farmer's Son with Watermelon

1932

oil on canvas: mural

Five smaller, yet significant works by Wood supplement these murals, including the charcoal on paper study of Daughters of Revolution, and some of his high school pieces.

Two Drawings for the Pulse (Easter and May)

@1907

lithograph

Stork

1910

watercolor on window shade

Midsummer (Indian Creek)

1926

oil on board

Two Drawings for the Pulse (Yule Tide and February)

@1908

lithograph

Daughters of Revolution

1932

charcoal

Coe College has also acquired a distinguished collection of works by Conger Metcalf, a 1936 graduate of the College. Although he studied under Marvin Cone at Coe, he actually graduated with a degree in music with the hopes of becoming a concert pianist. Instead, he built a wide reputation in the art world, especially in Boston where he worked for 50 years. The collection now totals forty-five works housed in and outside two galleries on the second floor.

Conger Metcalf Gallery

This gallery honoring the memory of the artist contains some of his finest drawings of children, as well as the largest piece executed by the artist, Sienese Shadow Patterns. The 1991 portrait of the artist by Warren and Lucia Prosperi hangs outside the gallery.

Drawing on 18th Century Paper IV

1990

ink and graphite

Drawing on 17th Century Paper

n.d.

ink and wash

Studio Interior

1989

oil and graphite on clay-coated paper

Tavola

1990

oil and graphite on clay-coated paper

Harlequin

1951

ink and wash

Little Reader

1973

wash and graphite

The Paper Fan

1975

oil and graphite

The Cardinal's Villa

1974

wash on paper

Sienese Shadow Patterns

1976

oil on board

Miki Reading

n.d.

wash and graphite

Incised Drawing Page in Antwerp Blue

1973

oil on clay-coated paper

La Famiglia Venezianna

1965

oil on board

Michael at the Easel

1972

chalk on wash

Spanish Model

1978

oil on clay-coated paper

Boy in Playroom

@ 1960

graphite and wash

Conger Metcalf (Warren & Lucia Prosperi)

1991

oil on canvas

Cantane

1977

conte crayon

Study Page at Antwerp Blue

1980

oil on coated paper

The Sentinels

1994

oil on coated paper

Manuela

1980

oil on coated paper

Still Life (Venetian collage)

1976

oil on coated paper

Summer Still Life

1968

oil on graphite

Reva and John Pashgian Gallery

This gallery, both inside and out, continues the Metcalf collection and was named the Reva and John Pashgian Gallery at the request of their son, Gordon J. Pashgian, class of 1971. The gallery contains some of Metcalf’s best technical drawings and highlights his superb draftsmanship. A recent addition is Metcalf’s remembered image of his mother, Medora. This piece is on permanent loan from the Washington County Historical Society where it hung for many years. Also of importance in this gallery are early works from high school while others were completed when Metcalf was a student at the College.